


The Spider's Thread

by ArgentNoelle



Series: How Not to Spend Eternity [9]
Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Adult Ciel Phantomhive, Angst and Feels, BAMF Ciel Phantomhive, Caring Sebastian, Demon Ciel Phantomhive, Dreams, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, M/M, Magic, Male-Female Friendship, POV Ciel Phantomhive, POV Outsider, Psychological Trauma, Rain, Trauma, sebastian doesn't have to be possessive bc he knows ciel's not going anywhere
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-18 05:49:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28862073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArgentNoelle/pseuds/ArgentNoelle
Summary: Ciel should be fine. After all, he's on holiday with Sebastian & another contracted duo, and it couldn't be more peaceful. But somehow, his recent duel with the ghost of Angela won't let go of its grip on him, and may lead Ciel to make a decision he'll regret... if he admitted to having those, that is.
Relationships: Sebastian Michaelis & Ciel Phantomhive, Sebastian Michaelis/Ciel Phantomhive
Series: How Not to Spend Eternity [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1044467
Comments: 3
Kudos: 5





	The Spider's Thread

_How lonely he must have felt! All about him was the silence of the grave, the only occasional sound being a faint sigh from one of the damned. Those who were so evil as to be sent to this place were tired by its various torments, and left without even the strength to cry out._

—from _The Spider's Thread,_ by Akutagawa Ryunosuke

* * *

The waves crashed against the rocks in ceaseless anger, in striving; crashed against the rocks and, like teardrops; sparkling marbles in a game, fell back into the haunted dark. That is where he was found, Ciel Phantomhive, where the ships wrecked on the shore, where the dark spars from the water announced its graveyard. He lay on the edge of the downs, arms crossed behind his head and staring upward; black-heeled boots with their laces, slate-grey pleated shirt tied with a dark bow, jacket and short trousers, like a boy carved from stone. He smiled—a slight, uncanny smile. Beside him, Helen sat, and shivered, pulling her cardigan close.

"It's cold," she said.

"Tomorrow it will be warm," Ciel replied. "It's summer yet."

"Mm," Helen replied. She looked out onto the openness of the sea.

"He's not bad," she said at last. "Your Sebastian."

"My Sebastian?" Ciel chuckled. He closed his eyes. "I thought you would like him."

"I do," Helen said. "He is—"

"Perfect," Ciel said. "It's his aesthetic; he practices."

"I wasn't going to say perfect," Helen said. "Thoughtful, maybe. Quite wise."

"Wise?" Ciel opened his eyes again. "Now there's one I've never heard." He turned, still on the ground, propping himself on one elbow to face her.

"Jack hates him, of course," Helen said. Then hesitated. "Well—he's bitter. As though he looks at him and wishes… something. They know each other, don't they?"

"I wouldn't know," Ciel confessed.

Helen raised an eyebrow. "Nothing, really? You haven't asked?"

He shrugged. "Sebastian has his past; I let him keep it."

"Kind of you," Helen said, with some sarcasm.

"Sometimes, one has to be," Ciel replied.

 _Even here, something of the horror follows him, that excrement and filth uncleansed_ —

Ciel swallowed, fretfully, and sat up, hugging his knees against him. When he turned back to Helen, she was staring, unabashed.

"What?" he snapped.

"It's so strange, this illusion of yours," she said.

In an instant, he had shifted; without apparent movement. Alex was sitting before her; the man cocked his head in challenge. "Better?"

There was something about the form that was healthier than it had been, but the fretful color was still on his cheek. She felt that he was playing a careful game…. But she berated herself. Alex—Ciel—had not decided any of this. _She_ had asked them to this place, she had asked them in order that she might observe, and… perhaps even find what it was that was so troubling him. She didn't delude herself that she could save anything, the damned leading the damned, (no Frederick she) but at the very least she meant to satisfy her own curiosity. Distract her mind from nightmares with another puzzle; get some uninterrupted sleep, for once.

"What do you do, when you're…" Helen gestured, pushing her hands away from each other as though scattering. "Just float invisible?"

"Nothing," Ciel said. "There's no need for sun, wind, rain and all that to _do_ anything; they just are."

"It must be nice," Helen said. It came out sounding wistful.

The rain started again, dampening the overcast sky, blotting the sun's weak light. A fine, misting drizzle, barely touching the grass-heads, laying on the fabric of their clothes. Helen pulled herself up with a sigh and looked back in the direction of the house. "I should be getting back," she said.

"Why?"

She looked down at Ciel, at his blonde hair pressed dark by water and the sea-green eyes. "It's raining," she said.

"You're not expected," Ciel pointed out, gently.

Helen frowned, opened her mouth. Closed it again. Then looked upward into the drizzle. "It's raining," she said again. "You think I should stay out in this?"

"Careful, asking a demon for advice," Ciel chided. He stood up, and materialized a dark umbrella which he handed over to her with some ceremony, a grin playing across the edges of his features. She laughed.

"It's a little late for that. Lead the way."


End file.
